Some people look down on WWE, I see it as a window on American culture. Even the lazy refrain: you know it’s not real right? Well read the allegations against McMahon with special attention to how he ran his enterprise, and say that again. It’s as obtuse as saying “you know movies aren’t real, right”? Wrasslin’ is like what would happen if an improv troupe went global. Just think of the talent that’s come out of it: legendary athletes, blockbuster actors, …POTUS.

Instead of getting up early for Meet the Press, I stay up late for Monday night Raw.

These people who get so incredulous about “soft” social sciences, (think critical theory) yet talk about IQ testing like it’s Newton’s 4^th law do not value, or do not understand the science. Even the serious people who defend IQ in good faith, speak of it with qualifications.

What is so attractive about a system to categorize and rank humanity? And what do the people who are attracted to it have in common?

Frankenstein’s monster is an early incel. It’s so ugly that society violently rejects it despite herculean efforts of the monster to find belonging. It’s solution is to terrorize the Doctor into creating a “female” monster for companionship.

So the monster is miserable, hates society, and has a plan to punish and destroy leading up to a climactic suicide. And it’s only hope is for a waifu created by science.

I think about this sometimes.

Zimbardo is part of a generation of psychology that struggled with why modern European people did a Shoah. Or rather a generation that sought to confirm through experiment that the Germans were alright and it was really all Hitler’s fault. Or at least a small number of evil Germans who caused the whole mess.

It’s auspicious to bring this up now because just watching the news these days makes a fool of Zimbardo.

That nearly half of Americans found themselves attracted to the likes of Trump should have prompted a moment of deep reflection among U.S. liberals a decade ago. It has not. Even in the course of this tragic presidential election, the Clintons and Obamas refuse to ask themselves what policies, techniques and political forces spawned such discontent and such will to destruction.

This is good example of the left’s myopic thinking. The great near-enemy war between the left and liberals erases agency from Conservatives. They’re not responsible for the rise of fascism, just because they were the ones who support it. No, it’s the liberals of the past who didn’t manage the rabble properly who are to blame.

I had an anatomy instructor who insisted that neural activity was a purely chemical process and that the electromagnetic stuff was just a byproduct that got all the attention because it was easy to detect. His central argument was that nerve transmission speeds are no faster than 150m/s which is somewhat slower than the speed of light you’d expect if neurons were little wires transmitting signals.

“low-information” voter is anti democratic rhetoric. It’s an argument that some votes should count more than others. Or that some voters are better than others. First time I heard the phrase was on Rush Limbaugh like 20 years ago. I’ve been disturbed how often “progressives” adopt this bullshit mentality.

Eugenics is the single stupidest idea in human history. To advocate for it now is to deny biology and history.

It relies on the same misunderstanding of evolution that underpins ‘great replacement theory’.

inappropriate sexual behavior

You’re not ‘taking responsibility’ if you can’t even use the words that describe the act your guilty of.

It would be funny if this guy dies and Jesus says, sorry, you have to go to hell. Yes, we forgave you, but only for the inappropriate sexual behavior that you confessed to. You’re still on the hook for rape.

This is what Tucker has to do these days just to get people like us to talk about him again. He used to have the prime time FOX slot. Now he hosts a show on Twitter (formally X). That’s like going from sold out stadium shows to headlining a half empty ballroom on a cruise ship.

What other weird beliefs does Tucker have? Where does he think microwaves go when you open the door?

There is not more danger now than there was centuries ago

The way you describe American history as “centuries” like we’re the Roman Empire or Egypt when we’ve only got 2.5 centuries to choose from.

next charismatic magat

I dispute that Trump is charismatic. Listening to him talk is like watching a drunk man cross an icy street.

I think this goes back to the Hitler myth that he could sway and mesmerize Germans. Of course, this idea became popular in the post war years when support for the Nazis became embarrassing. The truth is that fascism is simply popular. If Trump has proved anything it’s that his supporters are jumping into the abyss with their eyes wide open.

Somebody should tell JD Vance that watermelon jokes are older than political correctness, by about a hundred years.

(they date back to reconstruction when watermelon was one of the first cash crops the former enslaved people were farming)

It’s wrong for some random citizen to torch someone’s democratic agency. That’s what the Electoral College is for.

I still haven’t played Wasteland 3 or Divinity Original sin 2 even though I own both. And Balder’s Gate 3 is due to get discounted at Christmas. At some point, you have to measure RPG purchases against your life expectancy.

I think it’s time to consider the possibility that our grandmas and pop-pops are not tricked or indoctrinated, they just plain old support fascists.

The person who’s job it is to get Harris elected is optimistic? Would you be surprised if Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles are bullish on Trump’s chances?

What makes you think it’s good for the wealthy? This article is from the WSJ, not the Jacobin.

Spoiler: tariffs are bad for everyone. Regular people won’t feel the pain immediately, but if your the kind of capitalist that imports goods, especially from factories you’ve moved to Asia, the pain starts on day one.

Look at the bright side, implementing Trump’s tariffs would cause two unprecedented events:

1. it’d be a steak through the heart of the neoliberal economic hegemony
2. economists as a group might finally make a prediction that came true.

When the federal government shows up to help… for free, suspicion is a valid response. Not to mention that the South has experience being occupied (not for long enough).

But the government putting people in camps for bullshit security reasons? Madness.

Just more evidence that the behavior and ideology of religious people doesn’t come out of a book. Protestant Christianity must be the best example of this. What other ideology could account for both liberation theology and prosperity gospel? I’d go further to say that the number of denominations is equal to the number of Protestants.

This is why it’s so foolish for the non-believer to have opinions about how a “true” Christian ought to behave or ought to believe. In order to make that claim you imply:

1. The authors of the Bible had a message
2. That message was accurately recorded
3. That message has been accurately preserved.
4. That message is clear and understandable.

At that point you might as well start confessing your sins because while you might lack belief, you’ve kept the faith.